


Cats and Crows

by justifyingReality413



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol, Bars, Demonstuck, F/F, Gay, I don't even actively ship davekat anymore why am I posting this, Knights - Freeform, M/M, Murder, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Political Marriages, Royalty, Seduction, Thievery, almost everyone is a demon, basically a fuckton of shit, happy birthday tori, i hope you're happy, oh yeah cuz it's my best friend's birthday and she wanted me to, okay here we go, so much gay there's only one straight ship and it sinks, they do fuck but I can't write smut by myself very well for them anymore haha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-06-06 18:19:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 15,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6764812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justifyingReality413/pseuds/justifyingReality413
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I dunno some gay shit</p>
<p>Upd8s will be sporadic as fuck because what is life</p>
<p>Shit kicks up around ch 15 hold your horses guys</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the Beginning, Four Years Ago

**Author's Note:**

  * For [modelofwriting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/modelofwriting/gifts).



"I now pronounce you Queen and Prince-consort of Derse. Congratulations."

You look away as your brother, Dirk, and his now-wife Meenah Peixes kiss.Everyone knew their marriage was purely political. Besides, Dirk liked boys better. You don't know about Meenah.

The happy "couple" share a grin. You roll your eyes, and—

"John, careful with the wings, dude. I mean I missed you too, but yeah."

You feel arms letting go of you, and turn around to face your best friend, John Egbert. He smiles and hugs you again.

"Well, I'm happy to see one of my best friends! Hey, tell me if you see a boy with black hair messier than mine and kitty ears, maybe a tail, that's my friend Karkat."

"Someone with messier hair than yours? I doubt it, windy boy—"

You notice Dirk beckoning you up to the dais he & Meenah are standing on. They've been joined by a girl with the same long-ass hair and finned ears and gills as Meenah. Her sister, maybe?

"Oh, I see him! Come on, Dave, let me introduce you two!" John says, grabbing your arm.

"Nah, I gotta go up there. Family shit, y'know. I'll find you after, yeah?" John nods, and you fistbump, going your separate ways.

//page break//

You glare up at the new Queen. You despise her and have for years, ever since she'd convinced her mother, the old queen; may whatever remained of her festering rag of a soul rot in the Furthest Ring forever; to publicly execute your father for treason. But before that...

You're literally shaken out of your memories by a breeze, which solidifies into John. "Hey, Karkat!" he grins.

"Egbert. So, what in the name of mythical Prospit did you drag me here for?" You manage to restrain yourself from snarling.

John laughs. "Well, I wanted to have my two best friends meet! But I guess Dave is busy." He glances up at the dais where Meenah, whatshisface her husband, a boy who looks like him but your age, and Meenah's younger sister Feferi are. "He's the younger boy up there!"

The hair on the back of your neck stands up. "John, are you telling me your other best friend is a member of the royal fucking family?"

"Uh, yeah. Come on, let's get you introduced—"

"How about fuck no, you remember what happened to my dad, John!" Your ears twitch in irritation before freezing as you glance around. Nobody near you noticed, hopefully.

John frowns. "Oh yeah... I'm sorry, I should've—" Something catches his attention. "Oh, hey Dave!"

He looked shorter when he was up on the dais. Oh, thee are words coming out of his stupid royal mouth. "Hey again, Egderp, hey cat-kid. I gotta go, so John, you wanna hang out, you know the usual place. Nice meeting you, cat-kid." He disappears into the crowd.

You glare daggers at his back til you can't see him anymore. "He just called me 'cat-kid,' John! Twice!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two should be up soonish, hopefully either later today or tomorrow.


	2. Three Years Ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said yesterday that I'd get this posted today, so here you go. This is like almost twice the length of chapter one, and they'll only get longer, so yeah.

Things happen in the- wow, has it really been a year?- since Dirk and Meenah got married. For one, you three and all Meenah’s servants and courtiers and every other shit who wants a gander at the new royal family all moved into the big old castle near you and Dirk’s old home. You don’t see a lot of John when this happens.

Eventually, you start flying off to meet up with him. Sometimes you race, seeing who’s faster. He always always wins, though. A crow can’t out-fly the literal fucking embodiment of wind itself.

You don’t see a lot of Dirk, either. Definitely not as much as before.

You aren’t sure if you’re okay with that or worried about him. He barely sleeps, you can see the bags under his eyes, even when he wears those pointy shades so humans won’t get scared of his eyes(although that’s complete bullshit), and spends a lot of time talking about the court shit and politics with Meenah. And, well…

Staring into the eyes of that goddamned puppet. Sometimes it seems like the two of them are having a conversation, one you can’t always hear. Except for the screeching that you’re not entirely sure is just Dirk, but whatever.

You don’t mention any of this to John. Not for the fear of him betraying you, no, John is the best at keeping secrets. He’d keep your secrets to the grave. It’s just that he won’t shut up about that cat boy he introduced you to at the wedding.

“Karkat says he doesn’t want to meet you. I don’t know why! You’re my one best friend, he’s my other best friend, the two of you should get along!”

You roll your eyes at him, having left your shades behind. The humans in Tempest vastly outnumbered the demons, yeah, but they were peaceful. “I met him once, dude. The poor kid’s probably scared of my coolness.”

“That’s bullshit, Dave!” he laughs. “And Karkat’s only two months younger than me, he’s not a kid!”

“John, you’re four months and ten days younger than me. That means he’s about half a year younger than me, and I can call him a kid. In fact, I can call you a kid, kid.”

You reach out to ruffle his hair, but he does his windy thing and you pull your hand back. It’s… creepy how he’s just gone like that.

Oh, hey, he’s solid again. And talking. “So how’s royalty treating you?”

“Boring as fuck,” you reply. “I mostly wander around the castle, doing knight shit, leave bird shit around for shitty people to suffer, and talk to you.”

“Dave, gross!” He pinches his nose, laughing. “Tell me more about the knight stuff.”

“Hmm.” You pause for dramatic effect. “Well, this one dragon lady kinda declared herself queen of all dragons in defiance of Meenah and got banished to some island way out west. I dunno.”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Holy shit, you’ve never seen anyone grin wider than John.

“It would’ve been more fun if I actually got to do something about it.”

“Yeah, probably…” he sighs, looking at the sky. “Oh wow, it’s almost dark! I have to go, Dave, see you later!”

“See ya, John.” The two of you fistbump and he thankfully waits til you pull your hand back before doing his windy thing and vanishing. You take a breath, shifting, and start to fly back home.

 

It’s been a year since Meenah and that Strider prince got married. John’s been talking your ears off about that Dave crow kid and the possibility of you two meeting-

“No.”

“But Karkat!”

“I said no. I don’t want to meet him.”

At least John has the decency to look around and make sure no one’s nearby before asking, “Are you just mad at him because his brother married Meenah? I know I only met her a few times, but-”

“No!!!”

You really aren’t, not in the way he means. There was nothing between you and Meenah. Well, she did flirt with you. A lot. All those nicknames…

That’s in the past. After all, she did kind of cause the death of your father and the disappearance of your mother and brother.

“Okay, but Dave says he doesn’t even talk to her or his brother much. They’ve been really really busy with the court and getting enough people to guard that big old castle, and I hear they’re having a trial of sorts to find people that’d make good knights-”

“Knights?” You think for a second. When you were very young, your father told you stories of the knights of old, under the old queen’s rule. She had funny names for them, like subjuggulators or gamblignants, or threshecutioners. Those were your favorite, simple farmers, even humans, becoming heroes of legend, fighting evil with simple farm tools like sickles-

“Karkat?” Oh. John was talking, wasn’t he.

“Sorry, I was thinking. What kind of trial?”

“I don’t know, you’ll have to find out!” He grins at you in that way of his, where his mouth seems too wide for his face. It probably is.

“I think I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like writing the chapters with one of Dave's viewpoints and one of Karkat's, so I'll keep doing that. Future chapters will be different, though.
> 
> Should I write out the tournament/knightly trial thing? I kinda don't wanna, bluh. You guys should say yes or no in the comments, and also write nice things!
> 
> But yeah, even if I do or don't, that Violence warning you see up there? Yeah. Next chapter.
> 
> Next chapter I don't have a lot written for, so it might be a few days or a week. Hopefully not too long, though.
> 
> EDIT: oh gosh im sorry next chapter(the tournament) is already over 2000 words and im not done yet oh gosh im sorry it should be posted soonish but i dunno


	3. The Tournament, Two and a Half Years Ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray violence and bloodshed this is 2690 words just take it from me

You first heard about the tournament from an overheard argument.

“Meenah, we can’t-”

“Why naut? It’s perfectly fine, there’s enough room for everyone who bothers to come to the damn thing, we can magic up some food-”

“That’s not how magic works-”

“Well, whatever. We have a main cook, right? That human lady from Vita?”

“Yes. She’s a healer too.”

“She’ll do something.”

The next few days were annoying as hell, what with invitations and food and whatnot. Nobody was going to show up, why bother?

//pagebreak//

A lot of people showed up for the tournament. Even that dragon queen you’d heard John talk about, saying he heard about her from Dave or something. And a centaur, and- is that a Caprii?

Well, you certainly hope you won’t be fighting any of them. They could probably kill you easily.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a feline sharpening her claws- wait.

That person looks so much like your mother, it’s scary. A dark blue hat holds light brown hair out of the way, green eyes over freckles, light, comfortable clothes-

“What are mew staring at, misturr?”

Was she talking to you- oh. “Sorry, you just looked like someone I know,” you mumble, looking away. Your ears twitch slightly, and her tail flicks.

“Oh, okay. Are mew here to fight?” she asks, tilting her head.

“I am,” you nod, relaxing slightly.

She perks up, grinning (the exact same way your mother did before your father got-) “Me too! I’m Nepeta Leijon, what’s your name?”

Leijon? But- oh. “Karkat-”

“Well, I’ll see mew then, Karkitty!” and Nepeta dashes away, off somewhere.

Hmm.

//pagebreak//

Well, you were wrong. A fuckton of demons showed up, one or two more demon-friendly humans, and a few humans you suspect of only being there for a chance at assassinating Meenah or Dirk.

The catboy John introduced you to at the wedding was there too. Did he bring sickles? What the hell, he’d go down in seconds. Not that you cared, but-

“Dave!”

“John.”

“How are you doing? I see a ton of people here, wow, oh hey, are you going to fight? I’m not, my father would get so mad if I endangered myself recklessly, but wow, there are so many people and-”

“Well, if you’d stop talking a mile a minute, I’d tell you,” you smirk. “Yeah, I am. Who do you think I’d have a chance against, dragon lady?”

John looks out over the field, frowning. “You could probably fight Karkat, he’s really good, I’ve seen him practice.”

“Catboy with the farm tools? Yeah, I’d rather not kill anybody,” you scoff, rolling your eyes slightly. There’s another cat, only with claws. The dragon “queen” has a cane, of all things- wait, no, a cane-sword- and there’s a centaur with a bow and arrows. Huh.

“I think I’d better go check on Dirk and Meenah, I can hear them fussing about something from here,” you say. John nods, looking around, spotting the catboy. “You go do that, Dave, I’ll go talk to Karkat!”

You nod, and head towards the yelling.

“Meenah, no, you can’t go fight, what if you get killed or something, there are humans from Ire and you know how prejudiced Ire is towards demons-”

“Well, why don’t you just fight me then?” Meenah taunts, spinning her trident around in her arms. “I know you can’t kill me.”

“We’ll see about that.” Dirk unsheathes his katana, frowning.

“Save it for the tournament, you two, we can’t have the queen and prince-consort killing each other. Who’d rule? Me? Nah,” you say as nonchalantly as possible. Dirk glares at you, cawing an insult under his breath.

“Meen- your highness, it’s about to begin.” Meenah’s new attendant, some spider-lady from Lux named Aranea, slips out of the shadows. She worries you. You can never tell when she’s there or not, almost as if she doesn’t need to breathe, but she does seem to truly love Meenah. Not Dirk, though. She hates him, and from the looks you’ve noticed, it’s probably only because they’re married. You really hope she doesn’t poison him or anything.

The four of you go out, you slipping away from the group to go meet up with the other participants.

//pagebreak//

Meenah addresses the crowd, and you sigh. You see Nepeta in the line of combatants, and the crow boy. Dave. Whatever. You hope you’ll fight him.

John, in the crowd, waves hello to you. You wave back, and so does Dave. Hmph.

Meenah separates you into twos; you versus Nepeta, dragon- Terezi- against the Caprii, centaur against Dave. First are Terezi and the Caprii, and you watch, sharpening your sickles as Terezi breaks her cane? No, it separates cleanly into two swords, and the Caprii twirls two clubs in his hands. The dragon grins, and you can see multiple rows of sharp teeth in her mouth. Creepy. The Caprii grins back, and they come together in a whirl of weapons.

The Caprii goes down easily, then is led away by some sort of attendant healer person, and Terezi bows up towards Meenah and the others with her, her husband and an attendant, you think.

“Well, fellow queen?” she grins up at her, sheathing her swords and leaning on her cane. “Have I impressed you?”

Meenah nods. Terezi doesn’t exactly laugh, but cackle, and bows again, walking over and sitting down near you.

The attendant whispers something to Meenah, who smirks and says something back.

The next two to go and fight are Nepeta and the centaur, who refused to fight Dave. Seeing as she’s fighting with only her claws, he leaves his bow and quiver on a chair near where he was standing. He may be bigger and stronger, but you know how advantageous being small and light on your feet and quick is for a cat.

Nepeta pounces away, dodging every punch, and is she giggling? You bite your lip as her tail is nearly stomped on by one of the centaur’s hooves. She frowns, pulling her hat down further over her head, then pounces onto the centaur’s back. What? Everyone knows that’s incredibly fucking rude and disrespectful, and-

You stop breathing for a second as the centaur shouts something you don’t understand, and throws her off his back, rearing and you’re so worried, she looks so much like your mother and you can’t watch her die-

And then you realize that was her plan all along as she grins and reaches up, clawing at the centaur’s underbelly and he shouts again, and you can see blood-

Meenah raises her hand, and Nepeta drops from the centaur’s belly, rolling out from under and standing, curtsying. She goes to sit next to Terezi, and you see them strike up a conversation as the healer-attendant who led the Caprii away returns for the bleeding centaur.

Meenah looks to her husband, and out of the corner of your eye you see Dave look up at them and frown.

//pagebreak//

No. No no no, those idiots, they’d kill each other. You screech quietly up at Dirk, no, you can’t fight her, you’ll kill each other-

He just smirks, cawing back, I can restrain myself. Don’t worry, you’ll fight soon.

You just nod, feathers metaphorically ruffling. Your wings aren’t out, you wouldn’t want them to be hurt, and it’s really just inefficient. You just watch as Meenah does an acrobatic fucking flip off of the balcony she and Dirk were sitting at, and lands unsurprisingly on her feet, turning and gesturing at Dirk. He smirks, flying down and landing next to her. The two of them share a grin, and you notice Aranea frowning down at them- probably worried about Meenah.

Meenah looks around at the crowd, grinning. “So, shell we?”

“Yes, let’s,” Dirk smirks, drawing his katana. They bow to each other, with that mocking friendly respect they have for each other, then go.

They’re good. Dirk hasn’t lost his edge, and is still so damn fast, just like you remember. Meenah you’d almost say is better, blocking every blow and even getting a few in herself. Dirk only grins, dodging and blocking and oh, his footing is horrible-

Meenah knocks him off-balance, just as you thought, and he stumbles back a bit as Meenah whacks him before starting to block her again. You caw out don’t kill each other and Dirk smirks, stepping forward and catching Meenah’s trident with the flat of his blade, pulling it out of her hands.

She huffs and punches him in the face, and you can’t help but laugh at that. He screeches at you and you keep laughing as he tosses the weapons out of the way and goes for Meenah, punching her in the side. Soon they’re both laughing and out of breath, and turn to the crowd and grin.

They head back to the balcony, and Dirk points at you, and then the dragon queen.

//pagebreak//

Dave stands up after screeching something at Dirk, and so does Terezi. Meenah’s struggling to catch her breath, and her attendant brings her a cup of water, which she thankfully sips on.

You look back at Terezi, grinning at Dave, and- oh.

You knew she was a dragon, but those wings are- wow. Shining and translucent teal, they catch the sunlight and reflect, seeming to shine. Dave smirks, and he’s got wings too, white and feathered and angelic, wow.

They take to the air and you’ve never been so impressed in your life, tilting your head back and watching them soar and slash at each other, twin swords against broadsword. You watch Terezi nearly slice into Dave’s wing, but he flies out of the way in time and the only thing Terezi slices is a single feather, floating down and landing, surprisingly, on your lap. You take it and tuck it into your pocket, nobody would notice.

Looking back up, you see Dave’s sword bounce off of the bone of Terezi’s wing and then get caught in the flesh of it, teal blood darker than the wing itself against the iron of the sword and she pulls her wing away, oh that’d leave a nasty scar, she blocks his sword with one of hers and slices into his left shoulder and chest, and oh fuck he’s falling-

Meenah raises her hand, but Dave waves her off, screeching something. Dirk says something to Meenah and she looks up at him, surprised, then grins and looks back at them. Dave is entirely ignoring his wounds, seeming to move faster than possible. You’ve heard of flashstepping but never seen it in action, was that it? Terezi’s grin falters and she’s struggling to block him. You watch as she flies out of reach, retreating back to the ground. Meenah raises her hand again, and the healer attendant comes back, bringing both of them with her.

Now it’s you against Nepeta.

//pagebreak//

You’re taken to a tent along with the dragon queen, Terezi, by a cheery woman whose name, you learn, is Jane. Inside are the centaur that the catgirl fought earlier, and the … satyr-faun- wait. Caprii. That’s a Caprii.

Weren’t most Caprii from Ire? Didn’t Ire hate Meenah? What? You can’t stop frowning, but then Terezi lightly punches you in the shoulder.

“You fight very well, crow prince,” she grins.

“Thanks. You do too, you almost had me there for a bit,” you say, lightly punching her back.

Jane looks over at the two of you and frowns. “No punching in my tent, you two, your injuries are bad enough!” she says, coming over with a rag and wiping blood away from your wingtip. It stings a bit, Terezi’s sword having sliced a few feathers off and cut the very tip almost open, but it’s clean.

Her wing is definitely worse; now that Jane’s cleaned the blood away you can see the place where your sword bounced off(how did that happen) and where it got stuck in her wing. Would it need to be stitched up?

“I’m fine,” she tells Jane, pushing her away. “It’ll heal on its own, and I’ve had worse.” You don’t hear the rest of the conversation, stepping just outside of the tent to watch the next fight, the two cats. Someone says their names, Karkat and Nepeta, you think. Oh, wait, Karkat was John’s other friend. He’s got the sickles, and from what you saw of Nepeta’s first fight, you’re guessing he’ll go down in seconds.

That’s what you think, at least; but you keep watching and honestly, you’d describe their fighting style as murder ballet, they’re so graceful and almost as perfectly matched as Meenah and Dirk.

//pagebreak//

Nepeta’s good, like you saw earlier, about as good as you. You’ve been training with these almost your entire life, so that’s impressive. You block almost every attack she makes, but you don’t get any hits in either. “Mew’re good,” she mutters, trying to scratch at your stomach.

You block with the flat of your sickle and grin, swiping at her arm with the other, which she blocks. “Thanks, you too,” you say, trying to concentrate on the pattern of her slashes. You’d make a good team, honestly; it’s a shame the two of you have to fight. Meenah will probably stop you before too long--

Her claws come just a bit too close to your ear for your liking, and you step back. She giggles and follows, nearly pouncing at you. Almost instantly, you let your instincts take over your training and snarl, dodging just out of the way before slicing at her arm, freezing as a trickle of red bleeds through. Meenah raises her hand, and you bow.

//pagebreak//

That was the second time you’ve been wrong today. It did look like Nepeta was gonna win, and you nod to her as she walks into the tent before walking back out, grabbing your sword before striding up next to Karkat. Dirk frowns at you, and you wave off his concern.

“Well, catboy? You versus me, come on. It shouldn’t take me that long to kick your ass,” you taunt. He snarls at you and you’ve barely got your sword up in time to block both of his sickles‒ was he trying to cut off your head? What the hell?

He steps forward and you step back, blocking and blocking and blocking until you manage to knock one sickle out of his hand. He pauses, frowning at you. “You’re good,” he says under his breath before smirking, “but I’m better.” In seconds he’s holding his sickle like a sword- and using it like one too. You grin- this is more your style. It’s easier to parry his strikes, hold your ground, and after a while you gain some, too.

“That so, Kat?” you step forward, hitting his wrist with the flat of your blade—‒not hard enough to break it, just enough to hurt. He hisses at you, and you smirk. “You’re really so sure you’re better than me?”

“Yes, I am—” he snarls, catching your sword in the crook of his sickle, effectively trapping you. He yanks it back, and you step forward, careful not to let go because that would mean you lost, and you can’t just cut forward, you’d cut his face open—

He smirks- why- and sharply turns his sickle out, pulling your sword out of your hands. “Fuck,” you mumble, and reach for it, but cold steel presses into your neck.

“So who got whose ass kicked, Strider?” he smiles smugly at you. Meenah raises her hand, and you glance up at her only to notice that Dirk is laughing at you.

You decide in that moment that you hate Karkat Vantas.

 

The rest of the day is a blur, and almost immediately after you slam the door of your room shut and flop down on your bed you fall asleep.

Next morning, you awaken to cries of “thievery!” and discover overnight that Terezi Pyrope and Nepeta Leijon became some of the most wanted criminals in Derse. It’s honestly funny seeing Meenah without her usual bracelets and other jewelry, but you aren’t telling anyone that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaaaaaaa im so sorry most of this was written v late at night but YAY NEW CHARACTERS
> 
> Hey you see that murder tag that should be next chapter heads up
> 
> I’ll try to have next chapter up in about a week but yknow. Life
> 
> Comments and kudos etc would Make My Day guys/girls/magical beings/whatevers thanks for reading this shit it's been in the works for like a year


	4. Family Long Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh gosh im sorry this is just a filler chapter that i typed up at like midnight last night  
> also for reference this is within the two weeks immediately following the tournament  
> i dont actively ship dirkat or johndave- well i dunno maybe  
> just take this  
> oh yeah last chapter ended w dave so we start w karks

Only a few days after the tournament, and Nepeta and Terezi’s grand heist(which left Meenah pouty for ages), you became a knight.

You don’t honestly remember most of it- there was a lot of silence and muttering, not on your part, but by Meenah, and her attendant(up close you can see her eight eyes and they scare you, but at least she’s nice) and then Meenah’s husband- Dirk, he told you to call him Dirk, like a friend almost- knighted you, tapping the flat of his sword- he called it a katana once- on first your left shoulder, then your right, then on your head right between your ears. He does the same with your sickles, then handing them to you.

“Arise, Sir Karkat.” Dirk takes your hand and pulls you to your feet. “Just so you know, barely anybody’s going to address you as sir, it’s just a technicality. Dave’s titled Sir too, but nobody calls him that because he’s a little shit.” Meenah laughs at that, and you grin. Dirk and you are going to be good friends.

///

You haven’t talked to John in a while, but Dirk is a good friend. He lets you rant about Dave, sitting there silently as you pace and hiss about his latest antics and how he’s probably determined to get vengeance on you for winning the tournament.

Sometimes, if he’s in a good mood, he’ll tell you stories about himself and Dave as children. Meenah laughs, saying Dirk was never a child, he was born an old grumpy man, and Dirk would smirk and wave it off. Some of the stories he tells are pretty far-fetched, but you can believe them.

“One time,” he begins, after you’ve complained of Dave tugging at your ears, “when we were still children living in Cor, Dave was still only screeching corvid nonsense- well, it sounded like nonsense if you didn’t understand corvid. Really, it was some of the most filthy curses. Our father’s brother was shocked that he’d teach us both that.” Dirk smiles in memory, then frowns. “Dave’s been kind of a dick since we moved. He doesn’t like it in Cor.

“Where did you two live before?” you ask, noticing as Meenah’s attendant- you learned her name was Aranea- appears and leads Meenah away.

“Well, we were born in Cor to a human mother, who died shortly after Dave, and later moved to Aeon. That’s where Dave considers home, since there are more corvids there. We probably have some extended family there, but we moved here after the wedding since Meenah had a castle here and didn’t want to live down south in Vita with her sister anymore,” he shrugs.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” He lifts the thing in his lap and examines it- you’ve seen him holding it once or twice before.

“What is that?”

Dirk looks up at you, face blank. “This?” He lifts it again. “This is Cal. My mother made him for me when I was two or three, I don’t remember which.”

You walk up to him and take a closer look at ‘Cal’- it’s a creepy puppet with a large head, orange limbs, white hands and shoes, and blue shirt that says “Cal” on it. Weird. You can’t come up with a single reason why any sane person would give that to a baby, but oh well.

“Oh yes, Karkat, speaking of Cor and surrounding areas, the lovely lady Terezi Pyrope and her rogue companion Nepeta Leijon have sent us a challenge of sorts- they’re going to be here within a week.”

You nod and leave the room. Maybe this time you’ll find out why Nepeta looked so much like your mother.

//pagebreak//

You can’t believe John’s actually shut up about Karkat the past week- or maybe that’s just because he thinks you’re still sore over your losing the tournament to some barely-trained catboy with fucking farm tools-

Maybe you are. Whatever. And it doesn’t help that Dirk has been making nice with him and knighting him and ignoring you and all. You’ve been secretly dulling his sickles just for spite.

“Dave!” John brings your attention back to the here and now by sending a little gust of wind to play with your hair. You chuckle and look over at him. The two of you- well, just you but John tagged along- were tasked with cleaning up an old cemetary near John’s home in north Tempest.

“What is it, John?” you call out, carefully clearing away a few little cobwebs and some moss from a headstone- dead things have always seemed interesting to you.

“Come here, I think I found my grandmother!”

You get up and walk over to him, looking at the headstone he’s holding tightly with only slightly solid hands. “Ja- Ju- I can’t make out the first name.”

“I never knew what her real name was, and here it is, and I can’t see it.” There are faint tears running down his face; you scoot back a bit when they float up and away.

Hesitantly, you put a hand on his shoulder, relieved to find it solid, then pull him into a hug. “You can ask your dad when you get home, can’t you?” He nods. “Then you’ll find out. It’s okay, John. I mean…” you pause, but then he looks up at you with his sky blue eyes and you roll your red ones and smile. “I never found out what either of my parents’ names were, and they’re probably both dead now. We’re in the same boat, Egderp. It’s fine.”

///

John dissipates and floats home shortly after that. You take extra care to clean off his nanna’s headstone, pulling a loose feather from your wing and brushing away dust and crumbled stone. The engraved letters are too faded for you to make out any more than the first two letters of the first name, but you tried.

Flying home, you can hear Dirk screeching at that damned puppet again.

//pagebreak//

You’ve been talking with Karkat for too long.

You said you wouldn’t talk about anything that happened before you moved to Aeon with anyone other than Dave, no, you promised him. And here you are babbling away your childhood to a near stranger.

You’ve thought about this, maybe too much. And about what happened a year before you moved from Aeon to Cor.

You glance to see if the door is locked, and hug Cal close to your chest.

“It’s alright, Hal, Meenah’s with Aranea tonight and will sleep there. She barely ever comes in here anyways, you know that. Why have you been so silent?” you murmur.

Because of K͘aŕk̴a͡t͡.

“That’s not a reason… is it?” you ask. Cal’s bright blue eyes flicker red for just a second and you know Hal’s glaring at you.

Isn’t it? I’m not the only one you’ve been ignoring, am I?

“No, I haven’t been talking to Dave either. Shit.”

It doesn’t matter. You won’t break the curse any time soon. Dave is just outside the door, y̴o̡͡͞u̧̧ ̴̡k͘n͟͜o̕ẁ̸ and you can’t hear Hal’s voice anymore. Sighing, you set Cal aside and go open the door, and sure enough Dave is standing there. You step aside, and he walks in.

“Hello, Dave.”

He sits down on the edge of your bed and looks up at you. “We haven’t really talked in a while, have we?”

You shake your head.

He sighs. “So John and I were in that graveyard today…” you nod.

“We found his grandmother and he said something about never knowing her real name and I started thinking…”

You sit down next to him. Honestly, you don’t want to think about where this is going. Your family was…

“What were our parents’ names?”

You sigh. It went there. “I… don’t remember our mother’s name.” You pick up Cal without thinking and hold him tightly, and Dave scoots away. That’s a lie. “But our father’s name was Dietrich.” That’s true.

“Oh.” Dave thinks for a moment before looking back at you. “Good night, Dirk. Get some sleep.” He gets up, gives you a faint smile, and leaves.

You lie down on your bed and look out the window, holding Cal tightly. You do fall asleep, but your dreams are full of screeching that you can’t quite make out and various pairs of red, orange and purple eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /im sorry this wasnt supposed to be sad and there are probably epic spoilers but whatever  
> there will be more graveyard shenanigans next chapter hopefully yay
> 
> comments & kudos will Make My Day thanks
> 
> follow me on tumblr


	5. Silent Prayers and Sleepiness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAA IM SO SORRY I GOT GROUNDED AND I JUST GOT MY COMPUTER BACK THIS IS SO LATE AND I SHOULD DO SOMETHING FOR BILLDIP SMUT WEEK TOO BUT AUGHGH what is life  
> misgendering happens in this chapter just a heads up  
> also this is like a few days after the events of last chapter? i dunno

Traveling through Cor, awaiting Nepeta and Terezi’s arrival, was surprisingly uneventful.

You wondered why, having just escaped from an unusual naga(green streaks in her hair? Really?), who’d apparently thought you’d make a good meal, there weren’t many places to stay, like inns or taverns, nearby.

(The naga was only chasing you because you’d mistaken her lair for a nice warm place to sleep. If there were more inns nearby, you wouldn’t have had that problem.)

You find a (thankfully unoccupied) hollow at the bottom of a tree. Undignified for a knight, a noble threshecutioner, you think, but exhaustion gets the better of you and you shift, crawl inside, and pass out.  
///  
You wake to find a cane poking your side. Crawling out of the hollow, you shift, standing, grabbing your bag from where you’d stashed it-

“Not so fast, Karkitty.”

There are claws at your throat before you can blink.

“Now, now, Neppy dear, we don’t want to hurt him too badly,” Terezi steps in front of you, laughing. “Come on, Karkles, we saw you fight. We all know someone would die if we fought.”

“That’d be mew, by the way, Karkitty.”

You take a careful breath, and glance between them. “Why are you here? You were banished.”

“You can’t banish a dragon from their home, silly!” Terezi cackles. Nepeta moves her claws away from your throat, and you breathe; she drapes her arm over your shoulder and giggles.

“Karkitty, we’ll even return the queen’s crown, that’s not what we really want. Purrezi just wants to be seen as the rightful ruler they really are.” Nepeta looks up at Terezi and purrs, something you recognize as feline but you can’t make out the dialect. Terezi growls back, draconic with accents of feline.

“So Karkles, Neppy dear knows that you and the queen are good friends. Maybe you could convince her to let me have my rightful crown?” Terezi’s eyes are so very red, and all you can say is-

“What happened to your eyes?”

Terezi growls something under her breath. “Your precious queen didn’t just banish me, Vantas. She had her sylph burn out my eyes.” Nepeta’s grip tightens on your shoulder.

You frown. “And so you want a crown as vengeance? Is that why you stole hers?”

Nepeta giggles. “No, that was just fur fun! We sold it and gave the money to some purr little children on the way to Purrezi’s island.”

“You have an island?” You look at Terezi. She sniffs, laughing and nodding. “I do! It’s been in my family for ages. You know, we actually used to be royalty in our own right? I just want my title back.”

When she put it like that, it sounded fair. You had no idea what happened before Meenah’s mother took the crown, after all. Terezi might not be lying.

“You are still in exile, though. Maybe just… lie low for a bit, and when you’re back in Meenah and Dirk’s good graces, ask again?”

Nepeta frowns. “Karkitty, I think mew don’t purropurrly understand. Purrezi will never be on the queen’s good side. Ever. No matter what they do.”

“They?”

“Purrezi’s a they.”

“Oh.”

“Yes! I am a mighty dragon, and dragons don’t need gender! I do, however, need my crown,” Terezi grins at you with sharp sharp teeth.

“Well, I don’t know how to help you.” You take a deep breath, and sigh. “I’ll talk to Meenah.”

Terezi grins at you. Nepeta purrs, normal feline this time. Thank you, Karkitty she says while Terezi shifts into her- their- dragon shape.

You nod. Meenah’s an old friend of mine; it shouldn’t be that difficult. And this may be too much to ask, but keep Terezi out of trouble? I don’t want to be almost eaten on the way to dealing with you two again.

“No purromises, Karkitty!” Nepeta giggles, shifting into a small light brown cat and hopping onto Terezi’s back.

After they leave, you find yourself suddenly exhausted. You fall asleep to a silent prayer, that the two of them would get what they deserved and that you’d be safe as you slept.

//pagebreak//

Your days are boring without Karkat to bother or Dirk to mess with. John.

Shifting, you fly to his home in Tempest, waiting for the constant breezes around his home to settle enough for you to land on his roof.

What you see through the window makes you want to fly as far away as possible, to Ire maybe, or farther. You’ve heard there were lands west of the mainland.

John is kissing someone. Someone with messy black hair. You can’t tell who it is, but still.

You hurt, almost as much if not more than when you lost the tournament. No, this isn’t the hurt of injured pride. It’s the same hurt you felt when Dirk got with-

No, you said you wouldn’t think of him.

You turn and fly up, high as you can and headed home. In the air you see a reddish-teal dragon, a cat on its back. Terezi and Nepeta.

Following them, you take cover as often as you can until you reach the thin bit of Sanguine that’s beach. They head south, and farther west.

Your wings ache. Your everything aches. You want to go home.

So you do; you coast on breezes as far as you can until you spy a little human church, and a little human graveyard, in north Aeon.

Your mother was buried there, Dirk said.

You can rest in the church; the humans of Aeon thought corvids, especially albino ones like you, were lucky.

You fall asleep to the sound of a whispered prayer, curly rams’ horns disappearing out the door and into the night.

//pagebreak//

Dave left. You sigh, cawing quietly in the throne room. Karkat would be back in a few days, but you had no clue where Dave went.

“Meenah, have you seen Dave?”

“Nope!” she calls out from her room, door closed and probably locked. You hear Aranea’s voice, whispering something to make Meenah giggle. Definitely locked.

You spot a crow, a normal crow, not a demon like yourself, and caw at it. Find Dave Strider, he needs to come home. It caws back a simple yes and flutters off.

You sigh, headed for your room.

You know e̠͢x̤̱̲a̖c̵tl͕̮̮͡y̱̭̮̫̻ where he is, Dirk.

“Aeon?”

Aeon.

“Ugh. Can I deal with him tomorrow?”

He’ll be back by tomorrow. And it isn’t you he should talk to.

“Well, he’s not talking to you.”

O̻f͝ c̞̬̭̻̦͞o̸̹͇̩̯̳͓̥ṷ̙̺̜̘̫̩͠r̢͍̞̮̪̺ͅṣ̀e̸̤͇̥͓̜̣ ̖̭̟̤̲̥̪ǹ̤̘̳̮̝o̧̘̫̖̥̹̟t̢.͇̝̦

“Hal, you’re hiding something.”

A̯͖̖̣̺̤͠m͇͚̝̬͈̙̹ ̧̙͚͕̭̬̮̝Į̰̰̻̖̼?̰̭̘̬

“Yes- cut that out, it hurts my head.”

Silence. You sigh, throwing Cal across the room- it wouldn’t hurt Hal.

You fall asleep to an unspoken prayer, that Dave gets home safe and Karkat can handle the mess made by Leijon and Pyrope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> above i asked what is life  
> agender terezi is life  
> and my poor dave baby we've all been there  
> well not really all but whatever  
> ill try to have more good stuff next chapter
> 
> so who do you think john was kissing? hehehe


	6. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaugh im sorry this is shit chapters will get better when i stop feeling like shit which is hopefully soon

As soon as you awaken, you scold yourself for not doing more to stop them. They’re criminals, you shouldn’t be sympathetic for them! Either of them. No matter how badly Terezi wants their crown or how much Nepeta looks like your mother. No.

You did promise that you’d talk to Meenah about them, though…

Shit.

//pagebreak//

The sun streams in through the widows of the chapel, and you wake.

Flying down to the floor, you see only a few humans inside. You fly out the open door, and shift. Walking into the graveyard, you look around the headstones until you see a Lalonde-Strider. “Mom,” you say under your breath, and rest your head on the cool stone.

//pagebreak//

You and Meenah had been talking, when Karkat suddenly grabs your sleeve. “Oh, you’re back,” you say, glancing at Meenah.

“Ey, Karcrab, what happened?” she asks, tapping her fingers on her bare wrist. Normally, she’d fiddle with her bracelets, but oh well.

“You… you… you blinded Terezi?” he asks. You look at Meenah, frowning.

“Shell yeah, that’s what we do to traitors. Cat was lucky we didn’t cut off her paw,” she shrugs.

You sigh. “Meenah, I’ve told you, torture is an outdated-”

“It’s an effective method, Strider, and I’ll keep usin’ it!”

Karkat clears his throat. “Uhm, Meenah? Terezi’s family didn’t happen to be royalty before you were, were they?”

Meenah stops fussing at you long enough to listen to Karkat and shrug. “I dunno, Crabby, my mom burned all the records or whatever there were after she took over, I think. That was what, four hundred-ish years ago? I dunno.”

Karkat huffs and walks away. Shit.

//pagebreak//

Well, that wasn’t helpful at all. If the old queen burned all the records, then you’d just have to take Terezi’s word for it.

You head back to your room in a quiet little corner of the castle, and look out the window. There’s a little courtyard normally full of crows, but today, the silence is nearly deafening. It’s odd.

Lying back on your bed, you close your eyes. It’s much more comfortable than tree roots, and you fall asleep quickly.

//pagebreak//

A breeze stirs you awake, and you open your eyes, closing them almost immediately as it’s John and not a normal wind.

You turn your face away, but the carved words on the headstone have left a mark on your face. Sighing, you sit up and rub your cheek, not looking at John.

“Hey, Dave!” he says, so happily. “You should really go home, how long have you been out? I heard a rumor that Dirk sent all the crows in the castle out to look for you!”

You look at him. He looks genuinely concerned for you, almost as if he wasn’t sucking face with someone else earlier.

“Really?” you make a silent decision that if John can keep a secret, then so can you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaaaaaaaaaa davey my child i know the feels  
> yeah i dont even know whats going on  
> to those of you who know what the next big Plot Point is-  
> S O O N i promise  
> no more than like 4 chapters away hopefully


	7. June

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry have another filler chapter but hey hopefully next chapter or the one after it shit will happen!!!

John flew home with you after that. Well, more like he flew and you coasted on his breeze. 

“Hey, Dave?” he asks, the words whisking past your head as you fly.

“Yeah?” you call back.

The breeze flows faster, and then drops. You flutter for a second before diving down, landing on the ground. You shift, as does John, and halfheartedly smile at him. He grins back, like you thought.

“My nanna’s name was June!”

“You found out?”

“Yeah!”

You grin. You’re happy for John, really. You’re also really, really not.

“Oh yeah, Dave… you’re one of my two best friends, and I can trust you with this.” He looks around, taking your hand and pulling you towards the base of the broken tower you made your home. It’s farther away from the main areas of the castle, but that made sense, seeing as how Meenah told you it used to be a knight’s watchtower when her mom ruled.

“Dave?”

You weren’t paying attention. “Yes, Egbert?”

John frowns. “This is important.” Part of him dissolves, and he closes his eyes. You nod, stepping closer to him. You’d put a hand on his shoulder if you weren’t worried about it going right through. 

“I’m listening.”

John’s face disappears. “My nanna was murdered, Dave.”

“She what?” Your eyes widen. “Why?”

“Apparently the old queen wanted her dead. But that’s… not really important anymore. What is is that I found out-” he glances around himself, frowning. You really want to just hug him and tell him he’ll be safe, but you did make yourself a promise.

“John?”

John half smiles and looks up at you. “My family can only die if we’re taken from the air, apparently.” He shrugs, looking up at you. “I think Nanna was hung for being a traitor? Something about- oh, shoot, it’s late, I have to go home. I’ll talk to you later, Dave!”

And he’s gone.

//pagebreak//

You’re sent off on another knightly mission, soon, but not really one of much importance. You’ll be home soon.

It doesn’t occur to you that John lives in Tempest until you see him in the graveyard of the church Meenah had asked you to talk to(they’d been practicing heresy, she said, and were lucky their tongues wouldn’t be cut out), crying at a tombstone.

“Egbert?” You walk over to him, looking at the crumbled stone. Ju- Ja- some name. Crocker. “John?”

He looks up and wipes his eyes with his sleeve. “Oh, hi Karkat. Meet my nanna,” he says, patting the stone. “June Crocker.”

“Oh.” You don’t really know what to do, so you just sit down next to John and stare at the headstone. “Sorry.”

“She’s been dead since a bit before I was born, it’s okay.” He half smiles, and you pat his back.

“I found out her name yesterday. She’s just been Nanna all my life, so I just… it’s important.” You nod, and pull him into a hug. He is your best friend, and you don’t want him to cry.

“How did she die? I thought sprites couldn’t die?” you ask. “That whole air thing…”

“The old queen had her hanged for some reason, I don’t know.” John shrugs and hugs you back. “I’ll find out later.”

“Okay.” You smile, starting to stand up. “We haven’t seen each other in a while, Egbert, we should talk more.”

“We should!” He grins and stands up, taking your hand and walking down past the graveyard, down to a road. “I have to go home soon, so we can talk on the way!”

You walk with him for a while, watching the sun set. “I should go soon, too.”

John frowns. “Okay. It’s just been a while since I talked to someone other than Dave a- about important stuff.”

You sigh and keep walking with him. “Have I mentioned recently how much I hate Dave?”

You don’t even think about the spider on his shoulder until it’s dark outside, and then you’re at home, tired out from your journey back to the castle, and so tired that you think you were imagining it, and you fall asleep and forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bluuuuuuuh


	8. One Year Ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> misgendering tw, DEATH

You awaken to find a crow on your windowsill. Getting up and walking over, you frown. Not just any crow. /Dirk, what the fuck do you want?/ You caw.

Dirk tilts his head, blinking those orange eyes of his. His feathers aren’t albino like yours are, only his eyes(and even then, only partly). /Rude./

/Fuck you and your feathers,/ you mumble. /What even do you want this early in the morning?/

Dirk hops down from the window, landing on his feet. /Karkat failed his mission,/ he caws. /Pyrope and Leijon need to be stopped. He may even be sympathetic to them./

You raise an eyebrow, sitting back down on your bed. /Can’t it wait?/

/No!/ he screeches. /Who knows what they’re going to do next? Ire is grasping at any chance at a rebellion, and if Leijon and Pyrope gain their notice, that’ll definitely ruffle their feathers./

“Oh.”

Dirk nods. /Get ready to fly as soon as possible. Pyrope is rather fond of announcing their moves beforehand, and while that’d normally give us the upper wing, the two of them keep getting away./ He flaps his wings and hops back up to the window, about to take flight.

“Dirk, you can’t just fly into my room at fuck-early in the morning and give me a mission, then not even tell me where-”

“Our old home, Dave. They’re going to attack Lohac.”

And then he’s gone.

//pagebreak//

You finally get home, only to watch as a white bird flies, faster than you’ve seen any bird fly, over your head and north.

You have to find Dirk.

“What was that?” you ask him, finding him walking out of a door you’ve never noticed before. Meenah, almost always in some conversation with Dirk, or busy with Aranea, walks out the door as well, frowning.

“Karkat.”

Shit. She never ever says your name, shit-

“You fucked up.”

Dirk turns to you. “We needed you to stop them, and you didn’t.”

“Now the both a them are gonna plunder some town in Aeon. Dirk knows more about it, but still, Crabby. ‘E sent out Davey to go fix yer shit. I suggest you follow ‘im.” Meenah huffs, finned ears flicking, and walks away.

You look to Dirk, but he just frowns. “You’re really lucky we both like you, you know. She could’ve hanged you for treason in a heartbeat.”

//pagebreak//

The first place you go when you get to Lohac is the church where your mother is buried. Kneeling at her gravestone, you sigh. “Hey, mom.” You manage a small smile as you trace your finger over the words carved into stone, Rosalyn Lalonde-Strider.

You notice the person walking up behind you, of course. “Hello?”

“Strider.”

“Vantas. They tell you to follow me?”

“Meenah did, yes.”

You turn to look up at him. “Really? Not Pyrope?”

“If you’re implying that I’m a traitor, Strider-”

“Oh, I’m implying a lot of things, Vantas.” You stand, hand instinctively going to the hilt of your sword as you see him reach for his sickles.

“Now, now, boys, we all know who the real traitors are here.”

Startled, you turn to face the infamous Terezi Pyrope and her partner in crime, Nepeta Leijon.

Karkat steps in front of you. “I talked with Meenah like you asked, Terezi, and she said her mother destroyed any records of past rulers. I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”

You blink. So he is a traitor. Good; you have more of a reason to hate him than simply injured pride and jealousy.

“Mew did mewr best, Karkitty.” Nepeta steps forward and pats him on the shoulder, turning to you. “Oh, hello there! I’m Nepeta. Mewre Dave Strider, right? The prince’s brother? I remember Purrezi fighting you in the tournament.”

“Yeah,” you say, glad to be thinking of that and not the bout after it. “She was pretty good, I’d hate to fight her to the death.”

“They’d kick mewr butt,” Nepeta smirks.

“Terezi’s a they,” Karkat adds, turning to you. Terezi laughs and slings her arm over Nepeta’s shoulder.

“It doesn’t bother me much, Neppy dearest,” she- they- say.

Nepeta frowns. “Purrezi, mew should be respected and feared and adored!”

“You adore me,” says Terezi, “isn’t that enough?”

Are they seriously flirting right in front of you?

Karkat sighs. “Listen, did you get Meenah’s crown back from whoever you sold it to? She’s been different without it.”

Nepeta shakes her head no. You decide to step back and just listen for now; maybe you’ll hear something that Dirk and Meenah could-

“Not so fast, Davey.”

You glance over at Terezi, leaning on her- their- cane. “What now?”

“We aren’t traitors. We’re not planning a rebellion or anything. There’s nothing you could possibly hear from us to report back to your brother about.”

Karkat glares at you. “Strider, what the fuck-”

“He fucked up. Dirk said we’d be in a ton of shit if he didn’t stop you two.” You close your eyes, trying to think for a second. “Listen, why don’t you two just fuck off to wherever you’re hiding, Karkat can be hanged for treason or whatever Meenah has planned, and I’ll just live in some hovel in Lohac for the rest of my days.”

“If /I/ didn’t stop them? Wasn’t Dirk giving you the mission?” Karkat sneers.

“Wasn’t it your mission in the first place, Vantas?” You really want to kick his ass.

“BOYS!” Terezi shouts. Both of you turn to look at h- them. They lean on their cane, grinning. “If it’s going to be believable that dear Neppy and I simply beat the shit out of you and then flew away, you’ve got to look a bit beaten up.” They grin wider, dragon teeth glinting.

//pagebreak//

You frown, looking at Terezi. As much as you’d love a chance to fight Dave again, you aren’t exactly sure that’s what they had in mind.

“I don’t want to fight you.”

They laugh. “Scared, Karkles?”

“A bit,” you say. Dave smirks. “Fuck you,” you mutter at him.

Nepeta giggles, stepping closer. “Mew two can do that later,” she says, wiggling her fingers. “Right meow we’re going to be very busy. Purrezi and me against mew two, nobody dies here? Good rules?”

You nod. Behind you you can hear Dave drawing his sword, and ready your own sickles.

Terezi cackles, separating the two halves of their cane sword. “Then let us fight,” they say.

//pagebreak//

You watch as Karkat draws his sickles, not wanting to start the fight. You’ll gladly do it, but Nepeta beats you to the punch by darting forward, past Karkat, and lunging at you. You just barely block, taking a deep breath and turning, back against Karkat’s. He elbows you in the back, but steps forward- you assume Terezi swung at him, and as you hear blades clash, you know you’re right. Nepeta swings at you again, and you duck, hitting her in the side with the flat of your blade, and knocking her away from Karkat.

Terezi cackles, and you feel Karkat leaning back against you. You can’t exactly hear what they’re saying, but you do hear Karkat saying “switch” and turn as he does, facing Terezi now.

“Oh, hi, Davey. We fought earlier, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did,” you say, chuckling. “You’re pretty good, you know.”

“Oh, thank you,” they grin, dodging your blow. You block theirs, movements just as fluid.

“You’re welcome. Y’know, you’d make a pretty good knight if you and Meenah made peace-”

“I will not make peace with the child of the woman who ruined my family and exiled us, and blinded me to boot! My mother was a legislacerator, my sister a knight, and see how well that ended up for us!” Terezi’s swipes get fiercer, and you hiss in pain.

“Switch,” you say, and switch with Karkat. Nepeta frowns at you.

“Mew shouldn’t have said that to Purrezi, they really don’t like meowing about it,” she says.

“Well, how was I to know that?”

“Strider, shut the fuck up or I’ll murder you myself!” Karkat hisses from behind you.

//pagebreak//

Terezi laughs as you yell at Dave. “Karkles, I quite agree, he does talk too much,” they say.

You nod, smiling. You haven’t fought Terezi before today, and they’re good.

“I will not make peace with Peixes.”

“I’m not asking you to,” you say, blocking a swing at your face. “I’m asking you to wait.”

“Wait for what? For how long?”

“Until I have news for you. I’m trying to help you, Terezi.”

They growl and swing, cutting through your sleeve and skin. It hurts, but that’s not what you should focus on. “Terezi, i think Strider and I look plenty beaten up by now,” you say. They step back and sheathe their caneswords, and you hear Dave sigh in relief as Nepeta steps back.

“Mew do look purrty bad,” she giggles. “C’mon, Purrezi, let’s go home. Keep in touch, Karkitty!”

//pagebreak//

Dave and Karkat finally get home, covered in cuts and bruises. “What happened?” you ask.

Karkat looks up at you. “They kicked our asses,” he says. “Obviously.”

“Shut up, traitor, ‘e wasn’ askin you.” Meenah appears behind you and practically spits at Karkat. “Davey, what ‘appened?”

“They did kick our asses. Pyrope said they’d fuck off to wherever you guys exiled them to, though.” He raises an eyebrow. /Can I ask you something privately?/

You nod, subtly. Only Dave would notice it. Karkat and Meenah seem to be busy, talking about Meenah’s crown- “They sold it and bought candy for some kids or something, they said-” “Bullshit, Crabby, would they do that?” “Yes!”-- you take Dave’s arm and pull him out of hearing range.

/What is it?/ you caw softly, glancing back at Meenah and Karkat. You really hope she doesn’t hang him.

/You remember how Meenah said her mom destroyed all the records of past rulers when she took the throne, right?/ You nod, and he continues. /Why would she do that? If those families attacked her later, wouldn’t she wanna know why? Wouldn’t she clip their wings, make sure they can’t fly freely without her permission? It doesn’t make sense./

Dave would be a good ruler one day, you think to yourself. /So you’re saying you think Meenah was either lying about or has no idea what her mother did?/

/Yes./

//pagebreak//

After your little chat with Dirk, you’re tempted to go back to your mother’s grave. It’s as comforting a place to you now as the old cliff you used to sit on with John was.

Your wings ache, though. Nepeta left a nasty cut on your shoulder, and Dirk orders you to go see Jane(Karkat’s injuries weren’t as bad, and he fucks off to go sleep, you assume), the healer from Vita who was at the tournament. She chatters as she works, humming to herself. You sit and wait. That’s all you can do right now.

//pagebreak//

You climb up the ivy-covered wall of John’s house in Tempest, new cuts and bruises aching. You will not cry. You haven’t cried since- since then.

Finally, you reach John’s bedroom window. You knock four times, a beat of silence, then knock three more times- the code you two agreed to.

You wait for what seems like forever until he opens the window. “What’s wrong- again?” he asks quietly, looking over the blue bruises. You just nod, and climb in, sitting on his bed. He sits with you and hugs you tightly, and you smile and kiss his cheek.

It’s too bad you have to-

No. Just- just let me have this moment of happiness.

Fine.

You sigh, and lie down. John follows you, pulling you closer. He’s so warm and solid and here for a sprite, you think, knowing exactly what you have to do.

You know what’ll happen if you don’t.

“My father’s on a trip,” he says quietly. You knew this already, knew that he was gone, knew that he’d be back tomorrow. It’s why you have to do this now.

“John?” you look up at him, looking at every single little detail that you could possibly memorize of his face.

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

He grins, hugging you tighter. You hate yourself for what you have to do. But it must be done- shut up! “I love you too,” he says.

“I’m sorry, John,” you say, sitting up. He frowns, sitting up as well. Before he can say anything, you move your hands to his shoulders and kiss him.

Now.

You can’t stop shaking. Somehow, you move your hands to John’s neck, and squeeze.

Take the sprite from the air, and the sprite shall die.

It was a well-kept secret, especially given that there were so few sprites anymore, but John told you himself, ages ago. Just as few as the gamblignants or the threshecutioners you were told about as a child.

Take the air from the sprite, and the sprite shall die.

And die the sprite does.

You watch the light fade from John’s eyes, and wipe tears from your own. You haven’t cried in ages, and you’re not about to now.

One last time, you kiss him gently, closing his eyes. “I’m so, so sorry, John,” you say. “It had to be done.”

And then you flee, disappearing into the night like a shadow.

Or rather, like what you truly are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA FUCKING FINALLY  
> three guesses who killed him  
> haha bird puns


	9. The Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys im sorry this is late i was tying to finish a billdip oneshot thing but i didnt im sorry
> 
> that and some other stuff happened so :/
> 
> also my tumblr is justifyingreality413 follow meeeeee

You can’t believe you missed John’s birthday. You didn’t even remember it until you woke up this morning. Flying out, you see Dirk starting to follow you, and turn back, landing on the ground just outside your tower. “What?” you ask. You’re really not in a mood for any of his shit, you forgot John’s birthday-

“The Heir of Tempest is dead.”

“What?”

He looks down at the ground. “I’m so sorry, Dave. If I’d known, I’d have sent you there and not to-”

“Did you just fucking say John’s dead?!” you screech at him. He looks up, startled. “He, no, he can’t be-”

“He is. We got a letter from his father for you, and for Karkat. You were his two best friends, and…”

He keeps talking, but you don’t listen. Karkat.

You’d seen someone with messy black hair kissing John. The only people (alive) who knew John’s secret were you and Karkat. You’d gone straight to your tower and fell asleep as soon as you got home and finished talking with Dirk and then the healer, but Karkat had stayed to talk to Meenah, and then, who knows what?

You take flight and fly as fast as you can, headed for Tempest.

//pagebreak//

As soon as you read the letter Dirk handed you, you ran. You ran as fast as you could, with your speed, and made it to northern Tempest, to John’s home, before noon.

For the first time you’d ever seen, John’s father was in tears. “Oh, you’re Karkat. It’s… nice to see you, do come in. Would you like some cake?”

You shake your head no, ears drooping flat, and walk inside. “I need to see him.”

John’s father freezes, and nods. “He’s… the bo- he’s in his room.” You walk upstairs, sniffing. The smell of death isn’t as strong as it will be when the day gets hotter. Opening the door with John’s name painted on it in dark blue, you close your eyes. You gasp at what you see.

The window is open, and Dave is kneeling in front of John’s bed, holding his hand and sobbing. From here, you can see blue bruises on John’s neck. Dave looks up, and stops crying, screeching some crow nonsense at you.

//pagebreak//

/You!/ you screech at Karkat as you see him in the doorway, not bothering to wipe the tears from your eyes. /You killed him, you monster, I hope Meenah hangs you, I hope your ears get chopped off and your tail torn off and your fingers broken and-/ you don’t know what you’re saying anymore, and you sink onto the floor and lay your head back against John’s bed.

“How did you get here before I did? I left as soon as I woke up, and that was at sunrise.”

You glare at him. “I have wings, fleabag.”

He hisses at you. “Yeah, I know you have wings, disease-ridden carrion eater!”

“I do not eat rot!”

“I don’t have fleas!”

“Boys!” John’s dad appears in the doorway behind Karkat. “Stop this nonsense. Would John want you to fight like this?”

“He murdered John,” you say glumly. Karkat just stares at you in shock.

“I thought you did!”

You caw /fleabag/ under your breath again. You didn’t murder John, and the only other one who knew John’s secret and could’ve murdered him would be Karkat.

“Boys, if you can either get along or be silent, I’d be happy to bring you up some cake.”

Both of you nod. He half smiles and leaves the room.

“I hate you,” you say to Karkat.

He mutters back “The feeling’s mutual.”

You two sit in silence until John’s dad brings you up cake. John’s dad’s cake is the greatest thing on this world, you’re sure of it. John hates it, he’d laugh at you for accepting it-

John’s dead.

John is gone. Forever.

You set your cake down, unfinished, and squeeze your eyes shut tight.

//pagebreak//

You don’t care if Dave doesn’t want to finish his cake, you’ve already finished yours. You turn to John’s father and say a quiet “thank you.”

“I’m always happy to have one of John’s friends here. He keeps talking about the both of you-” John’s dad pauses, closing his eyes. “David, if you’re done with your cake, I think I need to begin plans for a funeral.”

Dave sits up, pushes the cake away, says a quiet “Thanks, Mister Egbert,” and shifts, flying out the window. You look, one last time, at John, and pull the sheet back over him before leaving.

//pagebreak//

The funeral is quiet. John’s coffin is laid to rest next to his Nanna’s. You wear your shades this time; there are humans here, and not as tolerant as the ones in Aeon.

Both you and Karkat pay your last respects to John. You go first, after a staring contest that resulted in Karkat backing away from you.

“Hey, Egbert,” you whisper. “I’m so so sorry. I was wrong about the knightly stuff, it’s not better having to do shit. I missed your birthday, I’m so so so sorry about that. You would’ve been, what, eighteen now?” You smile. “I’m not gonna miss your birthday again, John, I promise.” You glance around, and lower your voice.

“I don’t know who it was that you were kissing that day- well, I have suspicions- but now you’re dead and you can’t tell me. So I’m gonna tell you a secret, Johnathan whatever the hell your middle name is Egbert: I love you. I have for a while, and now you’re gone.”

You stand up, knowing that Karkat’s glaring at you. “You were my best friend, and I loved you. I’ll be back to talk more later, okay? Rest in peace, John.” You think for a second. Extending a wing, carefully so you don’t hit anyone, you pull out a feather and kiss it, placing it in John’s hands crossed over his chest. “I love you,” you say, and then walk away.

//pagebreak//

After Dave pulls his stunt with the feather, you walk up to John’s coffin. Frowning, you flick away a spider that was spinning a web in the corner. It crawls over the coffin and down to the ground, and then away.

Huffing, you turn to John. “I don’t know what he told you, but I definitely didn’t kill you,” you mutter. “I think he did, honestly.” You frown as you see how neat John’s hair is. They tried to tame the wind, and it died, you think, ruffling John’s hair. That’s better.

“You were one of my best friends, John, and I swear on my father’s blood I will find your murderer and bring them to justice.” That makes you think of Terezi. They would’ve gotten along with John, they and Nepeta, you think. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have saved you.” You wipe tears away from your eyes, and kiss the tips of your fingers, pressing them to John’s cheek. “I’ll come talk to you later, Egbert.”

And then you leave.

//pagebreak//

Dave and Karkat return earlier than you’d thought. You look between the both of them and sigh. “Any news about Pyrope and Leijon?”

“Why are you asking me?” Dave says, walking away.

Karkat shakes his head. “As far as I know, they’re still wherever you and Meenah exiled them to.”

You nod. “Thank you, Karkat.” Dave mutters something under his breath, flying to his tower, you presume. 

The next morning a letter comes, addressed only to you, in familiar handwriting. You smile as you open it, reading:

**_Dirky!_**

**_You didn’t tell us you were married! Or a prince!_**

**_Were gonna come visit you-_**

There the letters get splotched with ink, and the handwriting changes.

**_Brother, I apologize for our sister dearest’s handwriting._**

**_I knew that you had been wedded to the lovely Queen, even so far away as Lux. News travels fast, and I do still speak corvid upon occasion._**

**_We will in fact be coming to visit you. You’re in the Peixes’ old stronghold, are you not?_**

**_(Don’t bother to answer, I know it’s a yes.)_**

**_Expect us sometime within a week or two of recieving this._**

**_Love, your sisters Rose and Roxy Lalonde_**

**_P.S. Our little brother still doesn’t know of us? After all this time? Dirk. I’m disappointed in you, but it will be a lovely surprise. - Rose_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yaaaaaaaaaay lalondes  
> next chapter should be longer


	10. The Cat's Tale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw alcohol, nsfw(well not really but ykno)

It’s only a week after you get their letter that a pair of cats shows up at the palace, waltzing right on inside. You smile and stand, recognizing the pairs of pink and purple eyes. They stand too, and you hug your sisters for the first time in ages.

“It’s been too damn long, Dirky!” Roxy says, kissing your cheek. You grin and nod. Rose smiles and kisses your other cheek, and you turn to hug her properly, like the older brother you are-- you’re the oldest, and then roxy and then rose to another father, and then dave. You haven’t seen them since before your mother died.

“We stopped on the way and left some flowers,” Rose says. Rose knows everything. “Some for the Heir of Breath, too.” Everything.

“Dirk, these your sisters?” A voice behind you asks. You turn to Meenah and nod, and she grins-- for all she claims to be a cuttlefish or something, her grin looks too sharklike to be a coincidence. “Good, I shoulda met them earlier.”

“We were at the wedding,” Rose says. “You must not have noticed us.” You don’t remember if they were there or not, but something in Rose’s tone makes everyone want to believe her-- a reverse Cassandra, of the old myth.

Roxy nods, smiling. “We were there!” She walks over to Meenah and starts babbling about how happy she is to be here. Her chatter is comforting. You could honestly fall asleep to it.

You let your sisters and Meenah talk. You’re happy.

How long will it take for Hal to ruin it, you wonder?

//pagebreak//

You haven’t been home in a while.

Like your mother before you, it’s said(you wouldn’t know; she died only a while after you were born), you turned to drink. It helps to forget.

You miss John. You’ve been to his grave at least twice this week alone, but you know that he’d disapprove of your habits.

So you fight. It’s what you’re good at, what you’ve been training your whole life to do.

You haven’t seen hide nor hair of either Terezi or Nepeta, and you can’t help but blame Karkat.

He murdered John. Who gives a shit if he thought you did, he did! Who else could John have been kissing? He didn’t even deny it.

He didn’t even deny it.

You lament the fact that there aren’t any inns or taverns anywhere close to the castle. That would make things a lot easier. Both the not going home and the drinking.

John would be so disappointed in you. Dirk would be so disappointed in you. Terezi and Nepeta, you think, might approve? You don’t know.

John would be so disappointed in you.

//pagebreak//

You’ve been doing your best to help Terezi and Nepeta, looking through the castle when you have time to spare between missions, which you’ve been getting a lot lately since that asswipe Dave disappeared. Well…

Sometimes you see him at John’s grave. You don’t say anything to him, just leave.

You’ve been ignoring any mention of Dave.

One day you bump, not literally, thank fuck, into a cat with pink eyes. “Oh, hi!”

“Hi, I’m sorry about that,” you say, stepping backward.

She(you assume) scoffs, giggling. “It’s alright! I’m Roxy, by the way, nice to meetcha!”

You smile and shake her hand. “Karkat Vantas-- technically Sir Karkat Vantas, but Dirk-- the prince says nobody really cares about titles unless they want something from you,” you mumble.

Roxy laughs. “That sounds like something Dirky would say, yeah!”

You become fast friends with Roxy, still looking for things to help Terezi and Nepeta-- Roxy helps you. “Anything to help a fellow cat!” she giggles, and she’s good at looking for things in small places.

Your mother would be proud of you.

//pagebreak//

Hal hasn’t helped at all-- with the curse, with Dave’s disappearance(because of course he knows, he just refuses to tell you), with anything. One day you’re simply talking to him, door locked, trying to get anything useful out of him, when Rose opens the door and walks in. You start, but she holds up her hand. “Dirk. It’s fine.”

I don’t believe her.

Rose chuckles. “It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not, Halexander, fact is fact.”

She can hear me. _Dirk, she can hear me._

“I can.”

Holy fuck.

“Indeed.”

You can’t help but smile at Hal’s sudden silence.

“Now tell me about this curse,” she says. And you do.

You really missed Rose.

//pagebreak//

For some reason, during the few weeks after you met Roxy, Terezi gives you a gift. “Use it wisely,” they say with a wink.

“I will,” you say, and they laugh and fly off.

It was money. Quite a lot of money, in fact. Enough to open an inn, like in the stories your parents read to you.

You tell Roxy, who is quickly becoming your best friend besides Terezi and Nepeta(she reminds you of John, that’s probably why). She’s thrilled, and says that it should have a bar, too. You nod, and form plans.

In a few weeks, it’s nearly ready to open. “What should we call it?” you ask.

Roxy frowns. “Something nice, something funny, maybe a reference to those old stories where heroes met up in old barplaces and drank and slept and got jobs and fought bad guys!”

You grin. “I love those stories!”

“Yes! And, and, oooohh! We’re both cats, maybe we could call it the cat’s tail or something!”

“The cat’s tale… yes.”

//pagebreak//

Finally. A fucking inn opens in your hometown.

It’s really not long before you visit. It’s new and there are nice windows and it’s clean, which is more than you can say about the other places you’ve been staying.

You don’t recognize the nice cat lady at the bar, but she’s nice and doesn’t say anything about the state you’re in-- from the look in her eyes you think she may have been through the same thing herself.

“Hi there, stranger! Want a room?” she asks. You nod. She grins, and hands you a key. “On the house! You look like you need it,” she whispers the last bit.

“Thanks,” you say, voice hoarse from screeching.

“I’d show you myself, but we’re kinda really busy,” she says. “Name’s Roxy, by the way!”

“Dave,” you reply. She smiles, as if she knows something you don’t.

//pagebreak//

You, finishing sweeping and making sure everyone is either out of the inn or in their rooms, walk over to the bar area and frown at Roxy, who is still chatting with some blond asshole-- oh.

Oh, that’s Dave.

“Strider, what the everloving fuck are you doing here?” you hiss.

Roxy looks over at you and smiles. “Hey, Kat, he needed a room, he can’t go home.”

Dave doesn’t bother looking at you.

You scoff, and throw the first punch.

“Take it usptairs, guys,” Roxy says, giggling. “Upstairs. Or outside, y’know, I don’t mind.”

Dave’s punches are aimed for your face, and you’d swear if they weren’t thrown off by the alcohol you can smell on his breath, they’d break your nose.

But eventually, eventually, you do somehow make it upstairs. Why? Why not. You’ve had a few drinks too, and you don’t honestly care how this fight ends.

You weren’t expecting it, you don’t remember who made the first proper move, but you two end up fucking. Well, not exactly. There’s a term you’ve heard, “making love.” Like hell.

You two make hate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCKING FINALLY IM SO SORRY THIS IS SHIT™ BLUH  
> You expect me to write out the hate fucks uhm no  
> Im listening to Fallen Down im sorry i cant disappoint my mom  
> Ill try to upd8 this piece of shit weekly again mental illness and heatstroke was kicking my ass im sorry


	11. Spiders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw nsfw mention, abuse

So here you are.

After you came home, Dirk started giving you more official missions, and Karkat less. “He’s got that inn,” Dirk says. “It’s not like you don’t know where it is if he really is a traitor.”

You can’t argue with that. The only problem is that more and more of your missions are taking you farther southwest, not southeast or north like previously; more towards Optima and Sanguine. You haven’t been there before, and you know that there was a rebel, hung though he was, who was from Sanguine. There are rumors of more rebels currently in Optima, and elsewhere, more east. You’re not sure where, but oh well. You’ll focus on your mission.

Someone has been stealing from Karkat and Roxy’s inn, and Dirk told you to find out who. You don’t honestly really care about Karkat’s business, but since Roxy’s been like a sister to you this whole time, you’ll help her. Karkat can go eat a dick.

(He does, later. Wow.)

//pagebreak//

Someone’s been stealing from you.

You don’t know who, or why the only thing they’re stealing is Lux Golden whatever the hell kind of alcohol it is, Roxy knows more about that than you, but they are.

Dave is given the mission, apparently. You’re “too busy running the inn and making sure you can identify the thief,” bullshit. You’d think you’d know your own damn inn better than fucking Dave Strider of all people.

You and Roxy make a plan; mostly because it’s just common sense, partially to spite Dave; you’ll spring a trap. You’ll close and lock all the windows and doors, all the alcohol under lock and key; every corner blocked up so no small creatures can get inside.

It’s a perfect plan.

//pagebreak//

You don’t even have to bother sneaking in; you’re already a fucking guest.

Your mother’s money means that you can stay for however long you need to; which is good because like hell you’ll be in her presence any longer than you have to.

Lux Golden Rum is your mother’s favorite drink; it’s her home in a bottle, she says.

You have a whole uncorked bottle this time of Lux Golden; you chose to get a shitty Vitaen rum for yourself. It’s the kind you actually bother to properly buy, it’s that cheap.

It tastes better than seawater, or soap water; both of which your mother’s made you drink before. Suds and flies, while she fucking feasts in her cabin.

You wish that you’d escaped; made an honest life for yourself. You thought you had one for a while with John.

You tie your hair back into a messy braid, tucking the bottle away. If you have to pretend to be a lady of the night to get back to the ship, fucking fine, you’ll do it. You’ve done it before, back-alley business, letting those drunk fucks--

You do what you have to.

You haven’t even visited John’s grave.

It’s not long before you reach the Corran coast. Your mother’s ship, in all its finery, is hidden away in a cove out of sight.

You push the bottle of Lux Golden into her hands and run before she can catch you, reaching the inn just before sunrise, collapsing into your bed.

Maybe next time you won’t do it.

Maybe.

//pagebreak//

The plan fucking failed. The only fucking bottle of Lux Golden whatever you had is gone, and now Dave is fucking laughing at you. You’ll kick his ass. You’ll fucking wreck his ass.

And you do, he can’t even form words. It’s great.

He passes out soon after, and you leave him in his room at the inn, headed for your home in the castle.

You don’t notice the spider crawling up the inn’s wall and through an open window, nor the quiet sobs from that room after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah no they totally fucked its a thing kinda  
> Also hahaaaaaa same bab  
> Dont worry dear things will get better for you soon  
> Ish  
> Well not really all that soon but eventually they do
> 
> Yeah im gonna write more of her cuz abusive moms and the need to vent  
> Granted i havent done anything that shes done here but my mom is also abusive though to a lesser degree(i think i dunno)
> 
> Oh yeah guess who it is (is it even a mystery)  
> It probably isn’t but keep your suspicions to yourself cuz spoilers
> 
> EDIT GUYS IM SO SO SORRY SHIT HAS BEEN HAPPENING ILL TRY TO UPD8 SOON


	12. Time Passes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw abuse, other stuff(?)  
> sorry this took ages but hey im not dead

Time passes.

More missions, more rumors, more rebels. A Caprii and human uprising in Ire, burning down the flag of Meenah and Dirk’s rule.

You weren’t allowed to go; you’re third in line for the throne due to a lack of heirs(because obviously Meenah and Dirk are both too incredibly gay to even attempt to concieve) and as such “too important.” Bullshit.

You visit John, and your mother, a lot more lately. Sometimes you see the faintest glimmer of… something, out of the corner of your eye. You don’t know what it is. It’s alright; you manage.

///

Time passes.

More missions for you as well, more in Tempest and north Sanguine; immigrants from Fini and Spatia and Nyx(strange to see them this far north, you suppose, but even Vita had its intolerable humans) headed away from humans and others. You guide them to the castle, mostly; other safe places as well. Many of them come to the Cat’s Tale, for good food and drink and a warm bed.

You’re kept busy with that, and helping Nepeta and Terezi. It’s alright; you manage.

///

Time passes.

In the days that follow your… well, your absolutely asinine actions(your mother would laugh at the alliteration-- she was a writer herself), you survive nearly entirely off of food and drink provided by your hotel. You don’t spend any money that could possibly be traced back to your mother in any way, instead spending… more time than necessary doing… things. Back-alley business. Oh well. It gets you money, mostly spent on clothes and your room and shitty _shitty_ Vitaen rum. Honestly, water’s better than that swill. Your mother raised you to have standards(which is why you’re drinking it. It’s better than literal piss disguised as apple juice).

You don’t know what’ll happen. You know you’ll have to go back.

It’s alright; you manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay i love filller chapters(THIS IS 313 WORDS IM SORRY)  
> Anyways im gonna be writing a lot more of precious 8a8 cuz Same™ mothers are horrible  
> Haha  
> Yeah  
> But yeah tbh i wanna hear what you guys wanna read about in filler chapters cuz therell probably be a few more of them


	13. Ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AN UPD8 im at school haha also my birthday is soon so yeah say nice things about this fic please

It’s been a year. Exactly a year. April thirteenth.

 

He’s been dead for a year.

 

You talk to Roxy. She understands, of course(of course she does, Karkat works with her, doesn’t he? He probably told her); and lets you have a bottle of Corran red for free.

 

When you fly to Tempest, landing in the Egbert front yard, John’s dad is there. He gives you some cake, leaving you alone after that. “I know how much you two meant to each other,” he says, doing the same windy disappearing thing John used to do.

 

You walk the rest of the way there, stopping in front of June Crocker’s grave first. “Hey,” you say. “You seemed pretty cool when John talked about you. I’m sorry I didn’t come talk to you before, but I was busy.” John’s is right next to hers, and you sit down, smiling sadly.

 

“Hey,” you start, clearing your throat. “Sorry for not being here a lot. Stuff has been busy.”

 

You tell him about the rebels, in Ire and in Optima. You tell him about Terezi and Nepeta, about Terezi’s quest to reclaim their crown that Meenah’s mom took from her family, about how completely and totally and obnoxiously in love they are, and about that new in of your friend Roxy’s, the Cat’s Tale.

 

“Karkat works there too,” you say. “He’s different from other times I’ve seen him. Like a completely different person is fighting, another person is innkeeping, another person is talking to Tez and Nep-- seriously, he talks to them like they’re sisters, not like enemies--”

 

You talk until the sky goes dark, and a little spider starts to make a web in the crack of Nanna Crocker’s headstone. “I should get going,” you say. “Dirk says that lots of the rebellions in Ire are because both of them are hella gay-- well, not really because of that, but cuz they’ve been married for a few years and haven’t had a kid yet, and they need an heir to have stability-- which is fuckin bullshit, cuz Meenah said her mom had been ruling for centuries before having her. Then again, they’re fuckin weird, so like, she may have laid an egg or something? I don’t know.”

 

You hear a familiar little laugh at that, and nearly jump. “Who- who’s there?” Looking up at the sky, you see only the glow of stars and a bright full moon. No birds, or dragons for that matter.

 

A strong breeze blows behind you, and you shiver, wings coming out and wrapping around you, keeping you warm. In your heart, you feel it, the moment after midnight(a trait of being born in Aeon) and look around you-

 

“Dave.”

 

What?

 

“Dave!”

 

You stand. “What?”

 

“Turn around.” And so you do.

 

Your eyes widen. You can’t believe it. There stands-- well, floats actually, his legs are gone and fading into mist.

 

“John..?”

 

//pagebreak//

 

It’s the day after John’s birthday. Mr. Egbert gives you some cake from yesterday.

 

“Hey,” you say, walking over and sitting down in front of the stone.

 

“Karkat!” John blows in, and as you look closer at him, it’s obvious he’s dead. There’s a bluish tinge around his neck, bruises not yet faded. And never will fade, you think to yourself.

 

You smile, looking around. “Sorry I wasn’t here yesterday. I was on a mission.”

 

“Ooo, were you talking to Terezi and Nepeta? Dave told me about them!”

 

You pause. “He did?” John nods, grinning. “He told me tons of stuff! You know, I don’t think he knew about the ghost rule! Wait, do leap years count as a year, or as a year and a day?”

 

“I don’t know. I’ll ask someone,” you say.

 

You talk for the rest of the day, looking through John at the blue-filtered sunlight. “John?” you finally ask, looking away as he turns his head and the blue sunlight looks like blood through his face. “Who killed you?”

 

He bites his lip, raising a hand to his neck. It goes right through. “I- I can’t say, really, I can’t, I’m sorry, Karkat. I know you and Dave both thought it was each other, but it wasn’t, it was--” for a second he gets a bit more transparent, breeze blowing strongly. “Someone else close to me. She did it.”

 

She? “You can’t tell me anything else about it, can you?”

 

He shakes his head. You never really noticed before how you watched him breathe, the rising and falling of his chest gone now. “I gotta go, Karkat. I’ll talk with you soon.”

 

“Bye, John.”

 

You watch him fade, and the wind blows away any trace of blue in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor kid
> 
> which kid you ask? all the kids. all of them.
> 
> also puzzlestuck is great and got me into homestuck again


	14. Shit starts to Happen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyy guess who forgot about this here you go im sorry

Dave is a bit more absent the week after John’s birthday. So is Karkat, but less so. He spends a bit more time with you again, having neutralized the threat of Pyrope and Leijon- “fuckin sent those traitors packin,” according to Meenah.

You still don’t know what all that shit about Pyrope being descended from royalty is about; so far, the only royalty you know of legit are the Peixes family, some other Vitaen nobles, one or two royal families in Optima, the Egbert family, of Tempest; and the Makaras of Ire. And, of course, your own.

It’s those Optimistic families and the Makaras that you’re most concerned about now. There are others, of course; you remember in your childhood a few families tried to claim the throne from Meenah’s mother, but they were… unsuccessful. Killed. The ones that tried their hardest to take the throne were tortured. Other rebels were simply hung.

You push thoughts of rebellion away as Karkat walks up to you with a letter, smiling as he hands it to you.

Opening it, you see it’s more of a note than a letter, stating:

“1, T3R3Z1 PYROP3, DO H3R3FORTH ST4T3 TH4T 1 W1LL DO NO H4RM TO MY F3LLOW QU33N 4ND 3QU4L, M33N4H P31X3S, NOR C4US3 4NY R3B3LL1ON 4G41NST H3R, ON TH3 COND1T1ON OF H3R R3TURN1NG TH3 T1TL3 H3LD BY MY F4M1LY FOR M4NY Y34RS, TH4T OF R3G1NX DR4CO OF M3NT3.  
S1GN3D, T3R3Z1 PYROP3, R3G1NX DR4CO OF M3NT3”

You look up at Karkat, raising an eyebrow. “Have you shown this to Meenah?”

He nods, still smiling. “She laughed and said something like, “Pyrope can take back her title if she bends the knee to me.” I don’t think Terezi would do that, though. They’re too proud.”

“They?” you ask.

“Terezi’s a they.”

“Oh.” You stand, walking over to Karkat. “Thank you for doing this. You’re pretty great at what you do, you know.” You smile, a real smile.

//

“Hal, I think I like him.”

Well, shit.

“Oh, shut up.”

//pagebreak//

Things have gotten worse, and you’ve been sent out west far more often than you’d like. Rebellions have taken place, castles of Meenah’s burned down. You’ve heard rumors some people are burning effigies of her-- always people wearing either the purples of Ire, the home of caprii and the Makaras(they’ve always hated her), or green and white.

Why green and white? You don’t know anybody with enough power whose colors are green and white. Hmm.

“Hey, Dirk?” you ask, walking up to him on the throne. The room is surprisingly empty- usually there’d be at least a small crowd of people come to complain about shit to him or Meenah.

“Yes?” he asks, turning to you, and you notice dark bags under his eyes. They weren’t as noticeable before.

“Are there any royal families whose colors are green and white?”

He pauses, and you watch him think. “Not that I know of. There may be some peasant family who threw a fuck it and declared themselves noble, but I don’t think there are any true families.”

You nod, and walk away. Terezi or Nepeta might know, or maybe Meenah…

“Hey, Karkat?” You turn to face him, and-

He’s got a tiny(cute) smile. “Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

//pagebreak//

You’ve been hiding in the Cat’s Tail, the sympathetic cat lady who runs it(she’s kinda cute, you notice) offering you free food and lodging as long as you need to hide. You’re glad of it, but you know your mom will find you one day. It’s what she’s best at- hunting down and killing those who betrayed her. There are rumors she and the old Queen were lovers once- that the Queen betrayed her, broke her heart. And so she killed her.

You wouldn’t put it past her, actually- she’s had more bedmates than you’ve had beatings. And you’ve had a lot of those.

One day, as you’re out at market, buying food for the next week with the cat- Roxy’s- money(“if you’re gonna stay here a while, could ya do us a favor, cutie?” she’d said), you bump into a familiar, eight-eyed face, and not the terrifying one you were expecting.

“Aranea?”

//pagebreak//

Fuck this, fuck shitty towns with no inns. Your legs ache from walking, your arms ache from fighting, your wings ache from flying, and you really need to sleep somewhere that’s not the damn ground for once. You can’t wait to get home, back to your comfy bed(or Karkat’s, honestly, it’s almost as nice as his ass) and sleep for a few days.

You started seeing a lady with black hair, curly as a ram’s, and horns like a ram too. You’ve heard stories from your dad about the goat girls, Death themselves--

You always thought he was joking. Shit.

Well, if that’s not a reminder to get some damn sleep before you collapse, you don’t know what it is. You fly into a tree, a warm and unoccupied hollow practically calling your name, and sleep in your crow shape for what isn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooooooooo what is that plot i see developing  
> and theres the davekat and is that dirkat? is it? _iiiiiis iiiiiiit??_  
>  i might write out the smut n put it on my nsfw pseud? who knows man  
> but yeah here you go take this from me


End file.
